A cup of entrepreneurship with… C for Charlie

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

Celine: C FOR CHARLIE is a full service advertising agency, but our core business is in videography. The thing we love to do is express our work in video and graphic design. Bram: Celine studied graphic design and after that communication and multimedia design. I also studied communication and multimedia design but I especially focused on graphic design. My graduation project was a big video production and because of that video people got to know me. From this I received more video work, so I had the opportunity to immediately start to work as a freelancer. Celine: In his third year I decided that I also wanted to do what I love and quit my job. In June we started C FOR CHARLIE.

What do you consider your distinctive achievement?

(They start laughing and say) “That we didn’t killed each other yet”. Celine: It’s mostly that we are still growing every day professionally but also with each other. We work together 24 hours and the work keeps going. Off course it’s not always negative, the advantage is that we can work as late as we want because there is no one at home waiting for us. Also people are recognizing C FOR CHARLIE now, in the short time we exist, we have already collaborated in cool projects for very well-known brands. When Bram had his own business he had already made a name with his videos. When we changed the name of the company people had to realize it’s still him but expanded in a bigger company, which usually take some time.

What are you looking forward to?

Celine: The future: bigger projects, more people to work with and get the respect for the work we do. We want to do cool projects. We love to work for the local bakery but we prefer bigger brands or companies with bigger projects; this is what we love to do. We like to be the art director in projects in which more companies can collaborate and show their own expertise.

Which advise would you give other professionals?

Celine: “Just do it! Sometimes I hesitate to do something, but go out, meet people and do your job. If you have a month where you don’t earn money, that’s oke because in the next one you (could) have doubled. So don’t be scared. It’s not always easy; try to learn every day and enjoy what you are doing. The advantage of being an entrepreneur is that you can do everything you want in your own way. You need to have perseverance and discipline to work hard. Love what you do, otherwise it’s really tough. Also by being a freelance the advantage is that you can take a free day if you like. And the biggest tip: don’t do things for free”.

What are the challenges we need to overcome to make cultural entrepreneurship more accessible?

Celine: Give more information on starting up a business. When I left school I knew everything about graphic design but not about having a business or how it works financially. In school they should already start with this and teach students how they can sell / promote their work. Due to things as common knowledge you meet other people and get to know other creative places and professionals.

Bram: There should also be more workspaces. When I was a freelancer I couldn’t afford high rents. There are not so many places where you don’t pay a lot of money. Collective workspaces are very good for starters. I think is better to collaborate with other people so you can network and support each other too. Celine: What’s missing is a place or site were starters can find information on collective workspace and other information.